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Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Looking for a gift for teachers this holiday season? This recipe was inspired by my sister, Auntie Takeout as Psychgrad would call her. She shared that it's always such a challenge to find something for teachers other than the scented cream or gift card to the local drive through coffee place. I suggested we do something more creative and ultimately more practical.

The aromatic trio of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg enhances this rich-tasting quick bread. The recipe is generous; You'll end up with a loaf for brunch, one for the freezer, and one to give away. In my case I ended up with 8 mini loaves and one larger loaf.

Spread the pecans on a baking sheet and toast until they begin to colour and are aromatic, 5-7 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer to a bowl to cool.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the eggs until frothy. Gradually add the sugar and then the pumpkin puree, mixing well. Stir in the oil.

In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, cloves and nutmeg. Add the dates to the toasted pecans, then stir in 1/2 cup of the flour mixture to coat. Stir the remaining flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture until thoroughly combined. Fold in the pecans and dates. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared loaf pans.

Bake until the tops are browned, the loaves pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean, about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Trasfer to racks and let cool in the pans for 10-15 minutes. Then turn out of the pans onto the racks and let cool completely before serving.

Adapted from The Best of the Lifestyles Series, Williams-Sonoma, Special Occasions

Note: I used less than the called for sugar and it was fine.

This is a dense flavourful loaf and the combination of pumpkin and dates is heaven.

Teachers are getting combinations of these for the holidays.

Ivy from Kopiaste is this week's host for Week 161 of Weekend Herb Blogging.

Here is what you have to do. Prepare a recipe using herbs, vegetables, plants, edible flowers or fruit on your own blog, and email the link over to me ( ivyliac [at] gmail [dot] com) before Sunday the 7th December. Send your entries over to Ivy!

Here’s are the rules:

Post about any herb, plant, fruit, vegetable or flower - read the rules to ensure that your post does qualify. Please include a link to both this post and to Haalo’s announcement post.

Send an email to ivyliac AT gmail DOT com with WHB#161 in the subject line and the following details:

3pm Sunday - Utah Time 9pm Sunday - London Time 8am Monday - Melbourne (Aus) Time or you can use this converter to find out the corresponding time in your location. You can also check out who’s hosting for the rest of the year at this post and find information about hosting WHB.

I love the picture of the big loaf and the smaller ones. I love dates but don't have many recipes in which to use them so this is a great idea because I have a lot of pumpkin puree in the deep freezer.

Guess what! I got the parcel with the bookmarks and other items I ordered. I couldn't believe they arrived in Greece in less than a week!!!

Since we refer to family members, here's a key to clarify who's who

R - Psychgrad's hubby. Is the cook responsible for many of the recipes but usually does not post himself (unless it is to complain about our food obsession or share a dish that he loves -- usually poutine).

E- Practicing her skills as ruler of the world (or her little brother, K).

K - Cool little bro -- biding his time until he's big enough to take down E.

BACFF

The members of BloggerAid-Changing the Face of Famine have published a cookbook where 100% of the proceeds target children and education through the World Food Programme called School Meals. Purchases can be made by clicking the cookbook cover above.